‘Waitrose has shrunk its toilet paper by a third – I want a refund’
Dear Telegraph Money,
I have always purchased Waitrose Essential White Ultra Soft Bathroom Tissue in 16 roll packs, but I was shocked when I opened the pack that I purchased on Sunday (June 16), to find that it is totally different to all previous ones.
They are not as described and shown on their website. The differences are: the sheet size has reduced from 124mm x 104mm to 120mm x 99mm, and the sheets per roll reduced from 240 to 190.
This is an overall reduction of 29pc compared to the previous packs. The cheaper material used sheds small particles of tissues when you handle the rolls and tear off sheets and the smaller design no longer fits my roll holder as neatly.
The product advertised on their website is the previous size product, so I have been totally misled and mis-sold. This shrinkflation is not what I expect from Waitrose!
I would like a full refund and explanation.
Regards,
– Anon, via email
Dear reader,
It’s fair to say few things are as essential in life as toilet paper. As soon as I received your email, I marched down to my nearest Waitrose, tape measure in hand.
I was able to compare the original rolls with the new variant and I also found the rolls had been reduced by 4mm in height and 5mm in width. Not only that, but it was noticeably thinner, given 50 sheets had simply disappeared.
The difference works out to a 24.9pc reduction, something any reasonable customer is bound to notice in a delicate moment.
However, this was not the end of the story. The toilet paper may have shrunk by almost a quarter, but Waitrose has also reduced the price from £8.50 to £7.
This may appear to be a shrewd move to avoid the accusation of shrinkflation, but a £1.50 reduction in price is a drop of only 18.75pc, meaning there is a discrepancy of more than 6pc between the change in price and the decrease in the product size.
As for the cheaper material, I’m afraid this will always be a matter of personal preference. Of course, it is something I was quick to try out myself, but personally I noted no difference in the functionality of the paper.
However, you were correct to point out the Waitrose website was still advertising the older product. This issue was only changed after The Telegraph approached the supermarket despite the rolls having been reduced in size almost a week previously.
The size is not the only thing that has changed. The new Essential White Ultra Soft Bathroom Tissues come with an embossed pattern – something Waitrose was quick to point out.
A spokesman for the company said: “We’ve slashed the price of our 16 pack by nearly 20pc whilst improving the quality by adding an improved texture to our rolls. We’re confident that this offers great value for money.”
For some, this will simply be style over substance. The difference in the size of the rolls is so noticeable I went as far as to weigh them. The original roll is 160g, while the new shrunken roll is just 95g – a reduction of 40pc.
Whether it’s the number of biscuits in a packet or the extra air in a bag of crisps, we’ve become accustomed to food shrinkflation as the cost of goods has soared. But that is surely not a reasonable defence to reduce the size of our toilet paper?
I’m glad to say after I asked Waitrose, it got in touch with you to apologise and offered you a voucher worth £15 – more than double the amount you paid.
The company adds that it has updated its website with the new measurements and says its new toilet paper is in line with what other supermarkets are offering.
